NORTH BROOKFIELD'S THEODORE C. BATES

We've all driven by Bates Street hundreds of times but how many know the legacy of T.C. Bates? I do as I researched Bates ten years ago. The American Antiquarian Society and librarian Elizabeth Watts Pope opened up my door to my neighbor T.C.B. I live with the Bates story and when Julia Wendemuth sold me the Quaboag Spring Water lot I was in heaven.


Some may recall The New Leader running a front page color special on Bates enterprise back in 1986... my  Quaboag Spring Water story. But that's the tip of the iceberg. Bates was a true heavy hitter. He was instrumental in getting the Haston farmers paying for a library. He was instrumental in forming a high school. He was responsible for running water from the reservoir atop Bell Hill. The guy was everywhere!


The Town of North Brookfield blossomed in the late 19th Century. Bates was involved in the Railroad with it's depot on School Street. He was a graduate of Pinkerton Academy, N.H.

 and served in the Massachusetts Legislature. He was friends with Amour and traveled to the Midwest by rail. The further Theodore Bates traveled the bigger the headlines. Bates was a BIG man.. literally and figuratively.


He spearheaded the publication of TEMPLE'S HISTORY of NORTH BROOKFIELD.


Bates of Bates Street spent thousands on stone walls around the farm.As a boy I savored playing around the farm. The Wendemuths were wonderful neighbors. But that was then. They came from Prescott and I was benefactor in selling off their earthly possessions.


Theodore E. Bates died in 1909 and has a huge monument at Walnut Grove. He's not forgotten nor is his munificence. The Museum at North Brookfield Historic Society would be a wonderful place to reflect on the man I came to love.